Channel indicating device for television receivers

ABSTRACT

A channel indicating device for television receivers, wherein indication members carrying numerals representing the channels are detachably secured to a rotary member adapted for interlocking with a channel selecting device, so that the channel indicating numerals can be readily changed.

United States Patent 1191 Uchida et a].

[45] Dec. 24, 1974 1 i CHANNEL INDICATING DEVICE FOR TELEVISION RECEIVERS [75] lnventors: Kosaku Uchida, Neyagawa; Susumu Ide; Toshiji Kanamaru, both of Osaka; Sadafumi Kitamura, Neyagawa, all of Japan [73] Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.,

Ltd., Osaka, Japan 221 P1160; Aug. 27, 1971 21 Appl.N0.: 175,620

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Sept. 1, 1970 Japan 45-87379 Sept. 14, 1970 Japan 45-91428 [52] US. Cl 1l6/l24.4, 325/464, 334/86 [51] Int. Cl. H03j U114 [58] Field of Search 40/20 A, 26, 142 A, 331, 40/63 R, 16, 68; 74/553; 29/161; 116/124.l, 124.2, 124.3, 124.4, 133; 325/460, 461, 455,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,690,670 ll/l928 Curtis 40/68 UX 1,787,308 12 1930 Furlong 40/16 2,043,760 6/1936 40/16 x 2,257,022 9/1941 116/129 R 2,331,086 10 1943 Taylor 40/16 2,362,273 11 1944 Hopp 40/16 2,722,070 11 1955 Thompson 40/63 R 2,786,142 3/1957 Tyminski et a1. 325/455 2,810,827 10/1957 Norbdy ..325/461 2,832,161 4/1958 Murphy 40/63 x 3,387,397 6/1968 Buchanan et a1. 40 10 R Primary Examiner-Louis J. Capozi Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Stevens, Davis, Miller & Mosher [57] ABSTRACT A channel indicating device for television receivers, wherein indication members carrying numerals representing the channels are detachably secured to a rotary member adapted for interlocking with a channel selecting device, so that the channel indicating numerals can be readily changed.

7 Claims, 13 Drawing Figures 7 PATENTED EH22 41974 SHEET 2 'FIG.6

FIG. 7.

FIG. 8

1 CHANNEL INDICATING DEVICE FOR TELEVISION RECEIVERS This invention relates to a channel indicating device for television receivers.

In the conventional television receiver, a clear numerical indication of each received channel is produced with respect to the VHF channels, whereas with respect to the UHF channels, each received channel is indicated by the position of a pointer. In an attempt to receive UHF broadcast, a VHF knob provided on a receiver is turned to the position U, and subsequently a UHF knob is turned to the position corresponding to a desired UHF channel while a pointer over a UHF channeldial plate is being observed. With such an arrangement,'however, inconvenience is experienced in that the manipulation requires two steps. In addition, the construction of the channel indicating portion is complicated.

With regard to the UHF channels, the received channel must be determined through thegraduation provided on the UHF channel indicating plate so that in the case of the 47th channel for example, it is difficult for the operator to confirm the channel as compared with the case of VHF channels, since normally such a numberas 47 itself is not indicated.

Accordingly, it is a primary object of this invention to produce a numerical indication of UHF channels thereby increasing the indicating function.

Another object of this invention is to provide various simplified types of channel indicating devices.

Still another object of this invention is to facilitate the channel selecting operation.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent. from the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGS. la and 1b are front views showing a channel indicating device provided in conventional television receivers;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a portion of a television receiver provided with the channel indicating device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the channel indicating device;

FIG. 4 is a front View of the channel indicating device;

FIG.'5 is a sectional side view showing an example of the rotary member constituting the main portion or the channel indicating device;

FIG. 6 is a sectional side view showing still another example of the rotary member;

FIG. 7 is a sectional side View showing still another example of the rotary member;

FIG. 8 is a perspective View showing a television receiver provided with the channel indicating device according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing the main portion -of the device-of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a front view of a dial plate constituting the main portion of said second embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a sectional side view showing said main portion; and

FIG. 12 is a sectional view showing the arrangement of FIG. 7 as provided will illuminating means.

A brief illustration of the above-mentioned conventional channel indicating divice is given on FIGS.'1a and 1b, wherein a VHF knob l rests in a position U for UHF channels. A UHF knob 2 separately provided on the television receiver is in association with a pointer 4 slidable over a UHF channel dial plate 3.

Description'will now be made of the embodiments of the present invention. Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, numeral 11 represents a television receiver cabinet, 12 a display window, and 13 a rotary member adapted for interlocking with channel selecting means 14 (shown in FIG. 3) including a suitable number of UHF channel selecting positions for presenting a required UHF channel and a series of VHF channel selecting positions, the rotary member 13 being accommodated in the cabinet 11. On the peripheral surface of the rotary member 13, there are marked VHF channel indicating numerals 15 at positions corresponding to said series of VHF channel selecting positions respectively, and there are provided mounting portions 17 in which indication members 16 each indicating a particular one of the UHF channel numbers are mounted, at positions corresponding to the UI-IFchannel selecting positions respectively. There are also provided holding means (later described) for holding the mounting portions 17 and indication members 16 together. The rotary member 13 is disposed so that one of the members 16 mounted in the mounting portions 17 and VHF channel indicating numerals 15 which corresponds to the channel to be received is displayed through the display window 12 provided in the front face of the cabinet of the television receiver as shown in FIG. 2.

In the aforementioned channel selecting device 14, a series of VHF channel selecting positions corresponding to the channels 1 to 12 in the case of the Japanese channel system and a predetermined number of UHF channel selecting positions are set on the rotary'member at a uniform rotational angle, and there is provided an operating thumb or button (not shown) for rotating the rotary member 13 to bring one of the aforementioned positions into register. with the display window 12. At each of the UHF channel selecting positions described above, the UHFchannels receivable in the area can be preset by manipulating a preset knob 18. The aforementioned rotary member 13 is rotated through the manipulation of the above-described operating thumb or button of the channel selecting device 14.

Provided in each of the indication member mounting portions 17 is a section of which the contour maybe defined either by printing or cutting. For the sake of convenience,'numerals 1 to 12 indicated at 15 may be previously printed on the rotary member. The members 16 representing the .UHF channels receivable in the area are selected frorn a plurality of numeral plates 19 prepared as shown in FIG. 4, and each of the indication members 16 is attached to the aforementioned section defined in each of the indication member mounting portions 17. Although not shown, provision may be made of means for illuminating these indication members 16. Description will now be made of various examples of means for attaching the members 16 to the mounting portions 17.

3 blocks is fixed in position by being pressed from above and below by means of a leaf spring 23 provided in each of the cavity portions 22. Numeral 24 denotes a stopper. With such an arrangement, the indication members representing the UHF channels receivable in the area where the television receiver is located can readily be attached to the indication member mounting portions.

FIG. 6 illustrates a second example wherein a section is defined by a recess 25 formed in the front face of each indication member mounting portion 17" of the rotary member 13, and protrusions 26, 26 are provided on the top and bottom surfaces of the recess 25 to thereby prevent the indication member 16 inserted in the recess 25 from dropping down therefrom.

FIG. 7 shows a third example wherein protrusions 27, 27 are provided on each indication member mounting portion 17" in such a manner as to be projecting upwardly and downwardly therefrom respectively, and the indication member 16' is provided with bent pieces 28, 28 which are adapted for engagement with the protrusions 27, 27 respectively. For the purpose of making possible the removal of the indication member which is attached to the mounting portion 17" through engagement of the bent pieces 28, 28 with the protrusions 27, 27, a recess 29 is formed in the center portion of the front face of the indication member mounting portion 17". By pressing the indication member 16" at the center thereof from the from, it is curved so that the bent pieces 28 thereof are brought out of engagement with the protrusions 27 respectively.

The channel selecting'device 14 described hereinabove may be either of the type that it is manually operable or of the type that is automatically operated with the aid of an electric motor or the like. Further, the rotary member 13 may be either of the drum type as shown in FIG. 2 or of the rotary disc type. Preferably, numeral 15 or the numeral represented by the indication members 16 which corresponds to the received channel is illuminated by means of a lamp 13, as shown in FIG. 12. The symbols and numerals in FIG. 12 correspond to those of FIG. 7. The rotary member 13 positioned between the lamp 38 and the indication members 16 is made of a transparent or translucent material. In this case, those portions corresponding to the aforementioned numerals l and the numerals of the indication members are caused to be transparent or translucent, and the numeral corresponding to the received channel is illuminated from the back. Furthermore, by means of coloring, light and darkness or the like, a sharp distinction can be made between the numerals representing the VHF channels and those representing the UHF channels.

In the foregoing, description has been made of the embodiments wherein the rotary member 13 is provided in the cabinet 11 of the television receiver. Referring now to FIGS. 8 through 11, there are shown embodiments wherein channel indication is provided by predetermined channel indication numerals provided on a dial plate mounted outside the cabinet of the receiver. In FIG. 8, numeral 31 indicates a television receiver cabinet which is provided with a disc-like dial plate 32 carrying channel indicating numerals. The dial plate 32 is fixed to a rotary shaft 33' of a channel selecting device 33 provided in the cabinet 31 as shown in FIG. 9. Numerals 1 to 12 representing the VHF channels respectively for example are printed on the dial plate 32 as shown in FIG. 10. Numerals representing the UHF channels are indicated on indication plates 34, which are attached to a dial plate 32, thus producing a channel display. I

FIG. 11 shows in section the main portion of the dial plate 32, wherein numeral 35 denotes a mounting groove formed in the rear surface of the indication member 34, 36 and 36 denote protrusions for holding the indication plate 34 by pressing the latter from above and below, and 37 an aperture extending through the dial plate 32. The aperture 37 is provided for the purpose of permitting removal of the indication plate 34 by pushing the indication plate 34 held between the protrusions 36 and 36'. through the aperture from the back. The dial plate 32 is partially transparent so that the channel numbers carried by the indication plates 34 can be viewed from the front.

The embodiment shown in FIG. 11 is different from those shown in FIGS. 2 to 7, in that the dial plate 32 is provided outside the cabinet 31, so that the dial plate 32 can be readily removed from the rotary shaft 33 of the channelselecting'device 33. Thus, the attachment and detachment of the indication plates 34 can be facilitated.

What is claimed is:

1. A channel indicating device, for use in a television receiver, for indicating, in a display window, a numeral of a channel selected among a predetermined number of UHF channel numerals extracted from the entire UHF channel numerals and among the entire VHF channel numerals, comprising indication members each thereof representing one of said extracted UHF channel numerals; a rotary member, said VHF channel numerals being marked on the peripheral surface of said rotary member, and said rotary member being providedwith mounting portions for mounting said indication members; and a plurality of means provided on one of two groups comprising said indication members and said mounting portions, respectively, for releasably holding 'said two groups together. 1

2. A channel indicating device according to claim 1 further comprising'means for illuminating said indicatio'n members.

3. Achannel indicating device according to claim 1 'dicatorblocks being inserted in said cavity portions respectively, and wherein said holding means includes leaf springs connected within said cavity portions for holding said indicator blocks therein.

4. A channel indicating device according to claim 1 wherein said mounting portions have recesses, said indication members being fitted insaid recesses respectively, and each of said holding means having protrusions for retaining each of said indication members in engagement with each of said recesses.

5. A channel indicating device according to claim 1 wherein said mounting portions have first recesses, each of said first recesses having protrusions for holding each of said indication members between said protrusions, and wherein second recesses are formed in said mounting portions adjacent to the center thereof, said second recesses being concaved so that said indication members may be curved by being pushed from the front.

protrusions for holding therebetween said indication members fitted in said recesses, and wherein apertures each extend through said disc from a surface facing said recess to the opposite surface thereof. 

1. A channel indicating device, for use in a television receiver, for indicating, in a display window, a numeral of a channel selected among a predetermined number of UHF channel numerals extracted from the entire UHF channel numerals and among the entire VHF channel numerals, comprising indication members each thereof representing one of said extracted UHF channel numerals; a rotary member, said VHF channel numerals being marked on the peripheral surface of said rotary member, and said rotary member being provided with mounting portions for mounting said indication members; and a plurality of means provided on one of two groups comprising said indication members and said mounting portions, respectively, for releasably holding said two groups together.
 2. A channel indicating device according to claim 1 further comprising means for illuminating said indication members.
 3. A channel indicating device according to claim 1 wherein said mounting portions have cavity portions, and further comprising indicator blocks each having an indication member fixed at the surface thereof, said indicator blocks being inserted in said cavity portions respectively, and wherein said holding means includes leaf springs connected within said cavity portions for holding said indicator blocks therein.
 4. A channel indicating device according to claim 1 wherein said mounting portions have recesses, said indication members being fitted in said recesses respectively, and each of said holding means having protrusions for retaining each of said indication members in engagement with each of said recesses.
 5. A channel indicating device according to claim 1 wherein said mounting portions have first recesses, each of said first recesses having protrusions for holding each of said indication members between said protrusions, and wherein second recesses are formed in said mounting portions adjacent to the center thereof, said second recesses being concaved so that said indication members may be curved by being pushed from the front.
 6. A channel indicating device according to claim 1 wherein said rotary member is a disc-like form.
 7. A channel indicating device according to claim 6 wherein said mounting portions have recesses formed in one surface of said disc, said holding means having protrusions for holding therebetween said indication members fitted in said recesses, and wherein apertures each extend through said disc from a surface facing said recess to the opposite surface thereof. 